Newspaper publisher gunned down in GenSan

Unidentified gunmen shot to death a newspaper publisher in General Santos City Thursday night, police said.

Christopher Guarin, 42, publisher of the community newspaper Tatak News, succumbed to bullet wounds on the different parts of the body, Senior Supt. Cedric Train, General Santos City Police director, said.

The incident occurred around 10:15 p.m. while Guarin, his wife, and son were riding their Kia Pride sedan (UTN-393) along Conel road, Brgy. Lagao.

Guarin, a resident of Naval Subdivision, was driving the car home when one of two men on a motorcycle fired a caliber-.45 pistol at the left passenger side of his vehicle.

Guarin stopped and disembarked from the vehicle then run towards Sunrise Subdivision, but was shot again until he fell down 12 meters from the car.

Investigators have not yet ruled out the possibility that the killing was related to Guarin’s work, but are also looking at other possible angles.

“Most probably not journalism-related. We are still exploiting some angles, merong personal at business,” Train said.

Guarin, also a radio blocktimer and former manager at the defunct dxBB RGMA Super Radyo General Santos, is the first media worker killed this year and 10th under the Aquino administration, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).

Rowena Paraan, executive coordinator of the NUJP’s media safety office, said Guarin had been receiving threats prior to his killing, the last of which he read during his radio program around an hour before he died.

Guarin was on board his radio program Bantay sa Kahimsug sa Panglawas (Health Watch) when he received a text message carrying the threat, Paraan said in a statement.